A worthy 'Hamlet'? Not to be

Hamlet. Where: Delacorte Theater, Central Park, New York. When: Through June 29. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. How much: Free. Tickets available on the day of performance at the Delacorte beginning at 1 p.m. or via the virtual line at the Public Theater website. Call (212) 539-8750 or visit publictheater.org.

NEW YORK -- A terribly significant concept, a dreary leading man and a performance that lasts way over three hours reduces an outdoor staging of "Hamlet" to a butt-numbing experience.

Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis makes several bad choices in his ponderous revival of Shakespeare's tragedy, which opened Tuesday at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Apparently wanting to illustrate the damaging effect of war on people's psyches, Eustis makes too much of the drama's sequences involving Fortinbras.

Remember him? Fortinbras is the Norwegian warrior ("puffed with divine ambition") lurking with his army just outside the play's events, who arrives at the conclusion to annex Denmark. Scenes involving this marginal figure are often trimmed severely.

Not here. In the middle of the story, as the sound of fighter jets scream, Fortinbras (Piter Marek) appears atop a rising cherry picker to gaze inquisitively into Elsinore over the white metal battlements of designer David Korins' grim setting.

What he and the audience see is a royal court badly distracted by anxiety. The usurping monarch Claudius (Andre Braugher) is oddly benevolent but impotent. His bride Gertrude (Margaret Colin) is rigid. Their adviser Polonius (Sam Waterston) is jittery.

A very good actor miscast as Hamlet, Michael Stuhlbarg portrays a tearful, enervated soul who see-saws between buffoonish lunacy and sorrowful introspection. Sometimes raging, sometimes hushed, Stuhlbarg tries to navigate Hamlet's many contradictions but merely proves tiresome in his charisma-free inconsistencies.

More satisfactory performances are delivered by Lauren Ambrose, whose sensible Ophelia is deeply felt, and Jay O. Sanders, who's typically vivid in his roles as Hamlet's deceased dad, the Player King and the Gravedigger. David Harbour offers an unusual interpretation of Laertes as an overgrown frat boy.

With the exception of Ambrose and Harbour, whose fond relationship as siblings looks authentic, none of the other characters interacts in a genuine way. Perhaps the director hopes to underscore how the menace of Fortinbras' unseen presence alienates personal relationships, but the result is a general sense of detachment that makes for an uninvolving event.

Garbed by designer Ann Hould-Ward in a rumpled-looking mix of 20th-century civilian and military dress, the company speaks the text slowly and with care. Such deliberation no doubt helps newcomers comprehend the story better, but adds minutes to the tedious show's running time.